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not by faith alone?

By Ben ⋅ 16th Apr 2009 ⋅ Print This Post Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

I’m working on a sermon for Sunday on James 2:14-26. It’s the ‘faith and works’ passage- a great passage which insists that real, saving faith is active, visible faith.

Everything you hear and read on this passage brings up the ‘tension’ with Paul and his gospel of justification by faith alone and not by works. They explain how Paul and James are not in conflict. Both apostles are in agreement. James is not talking about how a person is justified, but about what true faith looks like. “We are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.” This is all very helpful.

But one verse has always bugged me. “24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” It just sounds like too much of a contradiction. I think I’ve lived with it by imagining that James is being a bit sloppy with his language here. If we read it in context we see that James and Paul do agree and had James and Paul been able to get together and talk about it they would have come up with a joint declaration in which Paul would have persuaded James of the importance of using such an all important term like justification with greater precision. In other words – a version of Luther’s solution to the problem.

But tonight I saw something that I hadn’t noticed before. James is not saying ‘a man is justified by works and not by faith alone’. I’ve been reading ‘you see …’ as some English colloquialism meaning something like ‘the point is …’.

Maybe he is saying ‘You SEE that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Which is saying something very different, very much in line with the rest of the passage and not nearly as uncomfortable in the same Bible as Ephesians 2:8.

So, is that a legitimate exegetical move or is it a bit too convenient?

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8 comments for “not by faith alone?”

  1. Posted by Andrew Barry | 17th Apr 2009, 1:44 pm

    Hi Ben. I’ve taken it down visual line. In English we use the expression “you see” as a logical connection, but I’ve always wondered whether it is in Greek. I haven’t really found evidence for it so far.
    Also, couldn’t the ek(ex) be taken as “from”. “You see that a man is justified from works and not from faith alone.”

    Hope it goes well.

  2. Posted by Ben | 17th Apr 2009, 2:22 pm

    Hey Andrew,
    I think that’s what I was getting at with the ‘you see’. Its feels like quite an idiomatic way of speaking in English.

    And yes, that would be a better translation of the ἑκ if we go with this kind of reading.

    v21 is still difficult though
    ‘21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?’

  3. Posted by Andrew Barry | 17th Apr 2009, 2:36 pm

    Hey. Maybe v21 is not a question, considering his conclusion in v23 when he quotes the verse about faith.

    Also, I just noticed that the “you see” is singular in 22 and plural in 24. What is that about?

  4. Posted by Ben | 17th Apr 2009, 3:00 pm

    The singular plural thing is curious.

    Are you suggesting we translate it something like:

    “Our Father Abraham wasn’t justified from works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar, but you observe that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You observe that a person is justified from works and not from faith alone.”

  5. Posted by Andrew Barry | 17th Apr 2009, 4:23 pm

    Perhaps. I think it makes sense.
    But how could you be sure?

  6. Posted by not by faith alone Check 1 2 | Joint Pain Relief | 9th Jun 2009, 4:21 am

    [...] not by faith alone Check 1 2 Posted by root 9 minutes ago (http://check12.com) By ben 16th apr 2009 print this post post a comment talk about it they would have come up with a joint declaration in which paul would have persuaded james of the importance powered by wordpress middot theme by the masterplan Discuss  |  Bury |  News | not by faith alone Check 1 2 [...]

  7. Posted by Dee Brown | 23rd Jan 2010, 10:39 pm

    Does Saving Faith produce good works?

    YES

    only works through faith will not fail

    The worldly walk of a person leads to the finish line

    But the spiritual walk for a believer starts with Salvation, So here Salvation is ours and works are produced through understanding the goodness of God.

  8. Posted by Gospel Truth | 4th Mar 2010, 9:58 pm

    The works are the outworking of the faith. The two go hand in hand but faith has to come first. We cannot be saved on account of our works because all sin however through our faith we are accounted righteous. We do still however have to try our best to walk in newness of life. How much are we trying?

    The REAL question is – what should we be having faith in? See: http://www.the-gospel-truth.info/the-promise-god-made-to-the-fathers-of-israel/

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